I had made vows and to spare, but the present cannot be ruled forever by the past. - Tanith Lee

Having failed, do you accept failure, saying only: Well, it is so. I will turn to other things? When night comes, do you accept the blackness of it, saying only: Well, it is so. I will turn and wait for morning? Or do you go on striving to light a candle against that dark however often the wind blows out the flame, however often the night returns?

Azhrarn said: “The earth is dying. Man, your creation, is dying. Did you not hear of this?”
But the gods did not answer, or look at him, or seem to see him.
Then Azhrarn told them how the earth split and burned, and men slew each other under the goad of a sorcerous enduring hatred that fed and grew more vital on destruction. He told them everything and spared no word.
But the gods did not answer, or look at him, or seem to see him.
Then Azhrarn went to a single god...
“Men you made,” Azhrarn said, “but me you did not make, and I will have an answer.”
So the god spoke to Azhrarn at last... “Mankind is nothing to us, and the earth is nothing to us. Man is a mistake we made. Even gods are entitled to one mistake. But we will not perpetrate another by saving him. Let him vanish from the earth, and the earth vanish from the state of Being. You are the Demon, and humanity is your beloved toy, but we have graduated from such trivia. If you wish man to be saved, then you must save him, for we shall not.”

This much poison cannot pour in one’s ears without it will leave some trace.